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Been awhile since I've had time to jump on here. I've never been able to get a "Composting for Dummies" book (seriously, I know zilch about what to do/how/when, etc.) But, I have a super good friend with a horse farm about 30 miles south of us who has offered as much horse poo as I want. She feeds them coastal hay and grain pellets. She has a large pile of poo, whereby half of it is already aged at least 2-4 years. I picked up a load in an old trashcan last weekend, and she's offered to load some more in her "dooly" for me when she's heading up next and drop off. My hubby and I can also go and get some when we can as well since he has a truck. My yard has a LOT of red clay ... you can only dig about 6 inches down before hitting that mess. Where I've planted things around the yard, I've dug out the clay and back-filled with store-bought soil. Most things are growing well; however, after seeing how much bigger, better, and healthier plants grow with poo as fertilizer, I want to get a good layer down to help not only the plants by my lawn.
So, I know I have a great line on an endless supply of poo. I'm blessed, I know. But what can/should I do with it, and how? Since it's aged, can I just go ahead and spread it around my plants (e.g., gardenias, bananas, hibs, cannas, primarily), or do I need to do anything else to it first? Should I dig it into the soil? I did notice some grubs in it when I was shoveling last weekend, so I'm guessing I should sprinkle some moth flakes around with it when I spread it so they don't attack my plants.
Is fall an okay time of year to put down some poo on plants? Seriously, any and all help/suggestions/etc with how to use it would be most appreciated! I hate to see it sitting on her farm going to waste, so to speak, as she does not garden at all. The one pile she has is from her 4-horse barn, but she neighbors with another horse farm that she works on, where they have about 80 or so horses, so I can get as much as I want/need. What I don't want to do is have a ton of horse poo dropped on my property with no idea of what to do with it.
Thanks much, in advance, for your help!
Jennifer
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